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Overnite Employee Says He Was Offered Bounty Money

The Teamsters union has uncovered another Overnite worker who claims the company bribed employees to blame the union for property damage.

The union says it has obtained an affidavit from an Overnite worker stating that an Overnite official offered $500 "bounty money" to workers who would accuse strikers of damaging Overnite equipment.The worker who submitted the affidavit was one of Overnite's strikebreakers. Overnite sent the worker to its Farmingdale, N.Y., and Philadelphia, Pa., terminals, as a "volunteer" to replace striking workers. At both locations, the worker said, he was asked to point out strikers who had damaged Overnite equipment and in return receive "bounty money."According to the affidavit, at Farmingdale the Overnite worker asked how he could identify anyone, given that he had just gotten there. The Overnite official laughed and said that's okay, he could still go out there and identify someone who did it.This is the fourth time in two weeks that the union has announced it has information implicating Overnite supporters in misdeeds at the company. The union has been engaged in an unfair labor practices strike since late October 1999; negotiations have not been fruitful.